A case study of partnering in lean construction

Lean construction is a relatively immature literature field in need of unbiased theoretical reasoning and case studies in order to investigate how lean thinking can be applied in a construction project context. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of how various measures of lean thinking can be implemented in a construction project and how these measures work. In order to enhance unbiased theoretical reasoning a frame of reference is first developed through a literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles. The empirical part of the research utilises a lean construction pilot project as a case study. Empirical data was mainly collected through a series of three questionnaire surveys, responded to by project participants who were involved in the lean implementation effort (approximately 30 responses) and three follow-up workshops in which the key individuals from all partner companies participated (15-20 individuals). The author functioned as a facilitator and action researcher, responsible for the design and analysis of the surveys and for planning and facilitating the workshops. Document studies and interviews of 12 project participants were also conducted in order to increase the richness of the case study data. The empirical results show that many of the lean related measures identified in the literature review have been utilised, either implicitly or explicitly, in the pilot project. These measures have mostly focused on increasing the cooperation among project actors, for which reason the pilot project is very similar to a partnering project. Much work remains in order to obtain a full-fledged lean construction approach. The pilot project, however, has the potential to serve as a well-built starting point for long-term continuous improvements and development of lean construction in future projects.Godkänd; 2009; 20090728 (ysko